The classic hot plate with which one is familiar is usually large, rigid and bulky. The invention described below will change the concept of how this product can be used and stored.
In the prior art there are many patents for flexible heating devices, most of them concerning low-temperature applications such as deicing, blankets and car seats, unfreezing pipes and for medical and body warming applications. There are also heating devices for keeping food warm, however no publications were found concerning a flexible cooking device or warming tray for maintaining hot food at a temperature of at least 80° C., with a temperature differential of at least 40° C. between top and bottom surfaces, which enables the placement of the flexible heater on any desired surface.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,068 there is described and claimed an electric heater for use in a vehicle to heat a container of food or beverage, comprising a flexible jacket to be wrapped around a container to be heated, and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,517 there is described and claimed an elongate, flexible, resilient, split-sleeve resistance heater structure, however neither of said patents teaches or suggests a flexible hot plate having the above characterizing features.